Week 13 Flash Fiction Contest Winner: JD Mader

Today we’re pleased to announce the winner of the 13th weekly Flash Fiction competition at Indies Unlimited.

The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.

A total of 94 votes were cast in the contest this week. The winner (with 49% of those votes) is: Contestant #3 our very own JD Mader.

Congratulations to JD, and thanks to everyone who participated – excellent entries! Now, without further ado, (release the hounds) here’s the winning entry:

by JD Mader

Thirteen hours since Eneth had learned about the death. He had been driving ever since. He didn’t fix on the particulars. Leave that to the blue hairs at the diner. He didn’t even want to think about it. So, he didn’t. He didn’t cotton to the stories – the Ruthie who’d gone to Vegas. He didn’t care about the whispers of drugs and the neon nightclubs. He was going to find the real Ruthie, and the scratch of the wool blanket on his jeans, the struggle of the old Ford pickup, the raindrops – those sounds were what mattered. Listen.

He’d been hearing about it for years. Ever since Ruthie left so fast…like a nighttime train, a whistle in the morning fog. The town liked to talk about it. Pregnant. Abortion. Stripping. Drugging. And now this, like a horse fly buzz – one last shot, desperation – cool, dead frog skin in a Casino bathroom. The blue hairs talked and the folks at church talked. Hell, they talked right in front of him. And not just about that. He wasn’t stupid. They didn’t know. He heard.

They hadn’t known Ruthie. Saturday morning Ruthie with cartoons and a cereal smile. Summertime Ruthie running barefoot through the sawgrass. Legs and feet scratched up and then cooling in the old Mill stream. He shook his head. She was coming home. Finally. He’d even prayed on it and his God was nothing, empty – he’d prayed. Let them talk. Ruthie was coming home. To stay.

[subscribe2]

Author: Administrators

All Indies Unlimited staff members, including the admins, are volunteers who work for free. If you enjoy what you read here - all for free - please share with your friends, like us on Facebook and Twitter, and if you don't know how to thank us for all this great, free content - feel free to make a donation! Thanks for being here. View all posts by Administrators